What is ULOG

User Log (ULOG) can be accessed by entering ULOG or U from any SDSF panel.

This log collects information on the MVS and JES commands that were issued by the suer. This is useful for monitoring what actions have been performed by a user throughout the session.

What's inside?

You might notice that on the top of the screen you see the console name. This EMCS console is activated automatically when you select ULOG. The name will be taken from the username that was associated with the session.

The EMCS console allows commands to be issued and the responses to be received and displayed directly in the ULOG for this specific user.

Shared ULOG sessions

If you see any information regarding your ULOG session being shared then it might mean that splitting the screen has created multiple sessions. The console will be shared between those sessions but the sessions without the word SHARED in the header will receive command responses for both.

You can disable sharing between consoles with the SET CONMOD ON command, followed by staring a new ULOG session.

ULOG will also display the result of commands that were issued as action characters in other SDSF panels, which might be helpful when we'd be unable to locate a job and need to see if we've cancelled or purged it via another SDSF panel by accident.

Both FIND and PRINT commands can be used in the ULOG panel.

NOTE: It is really useful to use the PRINT command if we want to keep a more permanent record of what's in the ULOG, as the content of it is automatically deleted when the SDSF session is closed.

Searching and filtering

Both the FIND and PRINT commands can be used in this log as well.

Troubleshooting

If the command responses are not being save d in the ULOG, then the Message Processing Facility (MPF) might be suppressing the response or the console ID might not have the authority

If you have the authority, you can enter the command to display the suppressed messages
/D U.DASD

If you use the same TSO USERID across different systems in the Sysplex the EMCS console name for each session will be the same because it will use the same USERID name! This will result in command responses for the first system that activated the EMCS console being the only ones appearing in the ULOG.

A method of avoiding those issues is to assign a different EMCS console name to the session with the SET CONSOLE name command

You will need to exit and re-access ULOG to activate a new EMCS console name.